Method and apparatus for re-editing and redistributing web documents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to re-edit and redistribute a WWW document with services embedded therein according to a user's will. Portions of Web pages are extracted and combined together to compose a new document. If a portion to be extracted contains a dynamic content, its copy is kept alive, that is, the content of the copy is periodically updated. Object-oriented IntelligentPad technology is used to extract portions of Web documents and wrap them with a pad wrapper. The function of periodically accessing a server is included in the wrap of a dynamic Web document portion to compose an object called a view pad having an automatic, periodic refresh function.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for re-editing a Web document, comprising the steps of: 
 wrapping a given Web document portion together with its style and/or dynamic content as an object;    updating the dynamic content of said object on a regular basis; and    re-editing the Web document by combining said object with another object and/or decomposing said object.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 said step of wrapping comprises the steps of automatically recording and modifying information identifying the original Web document portion and retrieving and storing the identified Web document portion;    said step of updating comprises the step of polling the original Web document portion at predetermined intervals; and    said step of re-editing comprises the step of automatically recording and modifying edit information according to an operation on the object.    
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  or  2 , further comprising the step of saving information about the definition of said object and reference information and edit information about the re-edited original Web document.  
     
     
         4 . A program for causing a computer to perform the steps of: 
 wrapping a given Web document portion together with its style and/or dynamic content as an object;    updating the dynamic content of said object on a regular basis; and    re-editing the Web document by combining said object with another object and/or decomposing said object.    
     
     
         5 . A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program for causing a computer to perform the steps of: 
 wrapping a given Web document portion together with its style and/or dynamic content as an object;    updating the dynamic content of said object on a regular basis; and    re-editing the Web document by combining said object with another object and/or decomposing said object.    
     
     
         6 . A method for re-editing a Web document, comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving the Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    analyzing the retrieved Web document;    editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    displaying the edited Web document;    mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    polling the original Web server according to given information.    
     
     
         7 . A program for causing a computer to perform the steps of: 
 retrieving the Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    analyzing the retrieved Web document;    editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    displaying the edited Web document;    mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    polling the original Web server according to given information.    
     
     
         8 . A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program for causing a computer to perform the steps of: 
 retrieving the Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    analyzing the retrieved Web document;    editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    displaying the edited Web document;    mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    polling the original Web server according to given information.    
     
     
         9 . An apparatus for re-editing a Web document, comprising: 
 means for retrieving a Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    means for analyzing the retrieved Web document;    means for editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    means for generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    means for displaying the edited Web document;    means for mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    means for polling the original Web server according to given information.    
     
     
         10 . A program for causing a computer to operate as a Web-document re-editing apparatus comprising:.0 
 means for retrieving a Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    means for analyzing the retrieved Web document;    means for editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    means for generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    means for displaying the edited Web document;    means for mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    means for polling the original Web server according to given information.    
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program for causing a computer to operate as a Web-document re-editing apparatus comprising: 
 means for retrieving a Web document from a Web server according to an operation by a user or given information;    means for analyzing the retrieved Web document;    means for editing the analyzed Web document according to a user operation or view definition information;    means for generating, modifying, and managing the view definition information according to an edit operation by said user;    means for displaying the edited Web document;    means for mapping information including said view definition information to an external interface; and    means for polling the original Web server according to given information.